1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically attaching a collarette, display and label to a garment body by synchronizing sewing and material feeding.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Garments such as shirts or blouses are typically manufactured using manual labor. Garment pieces are cut out of stock material, trimmed to proper dimensions, and then sewn together on a sewing machine by a sewing machine operator.
Often in garment manufacturing, a piece of material, known in the art as a "collarette", is folded and sewn around the garment neck to form a continuous collar. The conventional method of sewing a collarette to a garment neck is performed by a sewing machine operator in the following manner. First, the collarette is cut to a size slightly shorter than the garment neck edge where the collarette is to be sewn. Then, the operator positions the collarette on top of the garment body, places the material under a sewing machine and starts sewing. While sewing, the operator must continually maintain the alignment of the collarette and garment body to obtain an evenly manufactured finished product. Additionally, the operator must pull and stretch the collarette during the sewing operation. Stretching the collarette in such a manner will cause the completed garment and collarette to lie flat and have no wrinkles or gathers around the neck when worn.
The operator may also be required to attach a label (e.g. a manufacturer's identifier having the manufacturer's name and product information) to the garment with the same stitch being used to attach the collarette to the garment. To perform this operation, the operator must carefully position and hold the label in the desired location while sewing.
Additionally, the operator may be required to sew a small strip of material, known in the art as a "display", to the inside of the garment neck to flatten and cover the seam joining the collarette and label to the garment body (the "joining seam"). The display is used to cover the area inside the garment where the joining seam would be partially visible after the garment is packaged for sale, i.e., on the inside back portion of the garment neck. To sew a display to a garment the operator must carefully position and hold the display on top of the collarette and garment body while sewing.
Further complications to the above-described conventional sewing operation are encountered when the joining seam is to be hidden from view from the outside of the garment (i.e. the side of the garment away from the body of the wearer). To hide the joining seam, an operator must layer the collarette, display, and label on top of the garment body and use an "overedge stitch" to join the pieces together. The resulting "overedge seam" is then hidden from the outside of the finished garment. To sew a collarette, label, and display to a garment body with an overedge stitch an operator must first manually arrange and layer the materials one on top of the other as follows: garment body, collarette, display, and label. The operator then passes the layered materials through the sewing machine, maintaining them in constant alignment while stretching the collarette as described above. If desired, a second sewing operation is then performed to attach the loose edge of the display to the garment body with a top stitch to assure that the display covers the overedge seam and a portion of the label.
The manual process of sewing a collarette, display, and label to a garment body is difficult and tedious. The quality of the finished product is often variable and is largely dependent on the experience and skill of the sewing machine operator Moreover, the conventional process is time consuming due to the need to precisely arrange and sew the materials together.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new method and apparatus for automatically attaching a collarette and other materials to a garment body.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new method and apparatus capable of attaching a collarette, display, and label to a garment body in an efficient and precise manner without the need of manual assistance to feed and maintain alignment of the materials during the sewing operation.
It is a still a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved method and apparatus capable of attaching a collarette, display, and label to a garment body such that the resulting product is of a consistently high quality, but manufactured using less time and manpower.